]]>Muslim Times(Web Desk) – Israeli
forces have shot and killed a Palestinian teenager, whom they alleged to have
carried out a shooting attack in the central part of the occupied West
Bank at the weekend, which killed an Israeli soldier as well as a rabbi and
severely injured a settler.

Israeli
media outlets reported that 19-year-old Omar Amin Abu Lila was shot dead
during a shootout in the village of Abwein, located about 37 kilometers north
of Ramallah, late on Tuesday night after Israeli special units surrounded
the house he was in.

The
development came a day after Israeli army and Shin Bet security service
arrested relatives of Abu Lila, a resident of the village of Az-Zawiya, and
mapped the family’s house in preparation of a possible demolition. Dozens of
young Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces in response, with local reports
saying several were wounded as Israeli troops opened fire at the protesters.

In
another attack, two young Palestinian men were shot dead by Israeli soldiers
near Joseph’s Tomb on the outskirts of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.

Witnesses
told Palestinian Safa news agency that an Israeli a military bulldozer hit a
car, which was carrying the Palestinians, and then Israeli soldiers engaged
them with direct fire. Israeli forces reportedly prevented Palestinian
paramedics and ambulances from reaching the area.

The
two young Palestinian men were later identified as 21-year-old Raed Hashim
Hamdan and Zaid Anad Mohammed Nuri, 20.

Tensions
are high in the West Bank over ongoing Israeli aggression at the al-Aqsa Mosque
compound in the Old City of Jerusalem al-Quds.

On
Sunday, the Jerusalem al-Quds Magistrate’s Court announced that it had accepted
a request by Israeli officials to temporarily close Bab al-Rahma (Gate of
Mercy) prayer area at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Jordan
condemned the court ruling, with its Foreign Ministry saying that Israel would
bear “full responsibility for the dangerous consequences” of the decision.

Prayer
area of the al-Rahma Gate was closed on February 25 upon an order by Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and reopened the following day.

Israel
had closed the gate that leads to the prayer space in al-Aqsa Mosque since 2003
in the face of the Second Intifada (uprising) against the regime’s occupation.

On
February 22, however, the Waqf Council, which oversees the holy sites at the
al-Aqsa Mosque compound, decided to re-open the prayer space at the Bab
al-Rahma Gate in defiance of Israel’s 16-year-old ban. Hundreds of worshipers,
led by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem al-Quds, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, entered
the area for the first time since 2003 for Friday prayers.

Angered
by the move, the Tel Aviv regime launched an arrest campaign against
Palestinians. The arrests drew criticisms from Palestinians and Jordan. The
Islamic Waqf organization and Palestinian institutions have insisted on keeping
the Bab al-Rahma prayer area open for Muslim worship.

Palestinians
have repeatedly warned of Israeli attempts to change the status quo of the
al-Aqsa compound, the third holiest site in Islam.

Israeli
aircraft bomb areas across Gaza Strip

Meanwhile,
Israeli military aircraft have carried out new airstrikes against the besieged
Gaza Strip, bombarding the northern and southern sectors of the enclave.

Israeli
media said the aircraft struck several targets belonging to the Hamas
resistance movement on Tuesday evening. There were no immediate reports of
casualties.

The
Israeli military claimed the strikes were carried out in response to the
renewed launching of incendiary balloons from the Gaza Strip into occupied
territory.

Palestinians
have held weekly protests on the Gaza border, over the siege on the
enclave and the right for refugees to return to their homes they fled during
the 1948 creation of Israel.

More
than 270 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces ever since
anti-occupation protest rallies began in the Gaza Strip on March 30.
Over 26,000 Palestinians have also sustained injuries.

The
Gaza clashes reached their peak on May 14 last year, on the eve of
the 70th anniversary of Nakba Day (Day of Catastrophe), which coincided
this year with the US embassy relocation from Tel Aviv to occupied East
Jerusalem al-Quds.

On
June 13, 2018, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution,
sponsored by Turkey and Algeria, condemning Israel for civilian deaths in the
Gaza Strip.

The
resolution, which had been put forward on behalf of Arab and Muslim countries,
garnered a strong majority of 120 votes in the 193-member assembly, with 8
votes against and 45 abstentions.

The
resolution called on UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to make proposals
within 60 days “on ways and means for ensuring the safety, protection, and
well-being of the Palestinian civilian population under Israeli occupation,”
including “recommendations regarding an international protection mechanism.”

It
also called for “immediate steps towards ending the closure and the
restrictions imposed by Israel on movement and access into and out of the Gaza
Strip.”

]]>http://muslimtimes.co/2019/03/20/israeli-forces-shoot-kill-palestinian-teen-over-alleged-fatal-attack-in-west-bank/feed/0Turkey’s Erdogan urges New Zealand to restore death penalty over mass shootinghttp://muslimtimes.co/2019/03/20/turkeys-erdogan-urges-new-zealand-to-restore-death-penalty-over-mass-shooting/
http://muslimtimes.co/2019/03/20/turkeys-erdogan-urges-new-zealand-to-restore-death-penalty-over-mass-shooting/#respondWed, 20 Mar 2019 11:27:37 +0000http://muslimtimes.co/?p=116100 Muslim Times(Web Desk) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged grief-stricken New Zealand to restore capital punishment for the mass murderer who shot dead scores of people in the Pacific Ocean country last week, vowing that Ankara would make the assailant “pay” for his “heinous” crime if Wellington did not. On Friday, a 28-year-old ...

]]> Muslim
Times(Web Desk) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged grief-stricken
New Zealand to restore capital punishment for the mass murderer who shot dead
scores of people in the Pacific Ocean country last week, vowing that Ankara
would make the assailant “pay” for his “heinous” crime if Wellington did not.

On Friday, a 28-year-old Australian national, identified as Brenton Tarrant, killed 50 people and wounded 50 others at two mosques in Christchurch, a city located on the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island. The mass shooting is regarded as the deadliest ever attack in New Zealand.

The
attacker, who broadcast live footage on Facebook of the attack on one mosque in
Christchurch, was detained shortly afterwards and on Saturday stood handcuffed
before a New Zealand district court judge and was charged with murder. He was
remanded without plea until his next appearance in the High Court on April 5.

“You
heinously killed 50 of our siblings. You will pay for this. If New Zealand
doesn’t make you, we know how to make you pay one way or another,” the Turkish
president told an election rally of thousands in northern Turkey on Tuesday.

The
attacker, a suspected white supremacist, wrote a lengthy manifesto, titled “The
Great Replacement,” in which he described the Turkish leader as a “warlord” who
is leading a country that is among “the oldest enemies of our people.”

He
further issued threats against Turkey and Erdogan himself, calling for the
drive of Turks from Turkey’s northwestern European region, where Istanbul
is located, a Muslim-majority city and Turkey’s largest urban center.

Erdogan
on Tuesday also said his country was wrong to have abolished the death penalty
15 years ago, adding that Wellington should make legal arrangements so that
Tarrant could face capital punishment.

“If
the New Zealand parliament doesn’t make this decision I will continue to argue
this with them constantly. The necessary action needs to be taken,” he said.

At
weekend election rallies Erdogan showed appalling video footage of the
shooting, as well as excerpts from the attacker’s so-called manifesto. The
move, however, drew a rebuke from New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters,
who said he had told Turkey’s foreign minister and vice president that showing
the video could endanger New Zealanders abroad.

Nevertheless,
an extract from Tarrant’s manifesto was again shown on a screen at Erdogan’s
rally on Tuesday, as well as short part of the footage.

On
Monday, Erdogan addressed a rally in the northwestern province of Canakkale
commemorating the 1915 Gallipoli campaign, when Ottoman soldiers defeated
British-led forces including Australian and New Zealand troops trying to seize
the peninsula, a gateway to Istanbul.

He
said the mass shooting of Muslims in New Zealand is part of a wider attack on
Turkey, calling on Wellington to launch a serious investigation into the
massacre and threatening to send back “in caskets” all those who try to take
the battle to Istanbul.

Citing
Turkey’s intelligence, Erdogan also said on Monday that the mass murderer had
visited Turkey twice in 2016.

Earlier
in the day, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern vowed “the terrorist”
would face “the full force of the law.”

The
38-year-old leader also urged the country to support its grieving Muslim
community, particularly when they return to pray on Friday.

]]>http://muslimtimes.co/2019/03/20/turkeys-erdogan-urges-new-zealand-to-restore-death-penalty-over-mass-shooting/feed/0ICC urged to investigate Israel settlement expansion on Palestinian landhttp://muslimtimes.co/2019/03/20/icc-urged-to-investigate-israel-settlement-expansion-on-palestinian-land/
http://muslimtimes.co/2019/03/20/icc-urged-to-investigate-israel-settlement-expansion-on-palestinian-land/#respondWed, 20 Mar 2019 11:22:43 +0000http://muslimtimes.co/?p=116095 Muslim Times(Web Desk) -The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has strongly condemned Israel’s recent decision to construct hundreds of new settler units in the occupied West Bank, calling on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open an investigation into the case of the “Israeli criminals” behind the land grab, among other atrocities against Palestinians. “The ICC ...

]]> Muslim
Times(Web Desk) -The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has strongly
condemned Israel’s recent decision to construct hundreds of new settler units
in the occupied West Bank, calling on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to
open an investigation into the case of the “Israeli criminals” behind the land
grab, among other atrocities against Palestinians.

“The
ICC is not a court for states, but for individuals. Those who carry out
such crimes, namely [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, and
those involved in settlement activity, killings, closures, sieges and ethnic
cleansing are all known,” the PLO’s secretary general, Saeb Erekat, said in an
exclusive interview with Arabic-language Voice of Palestine radio station
on Tuesday.

The
ICC should “open an investigation with Israeli criminals who are committing the
crimes of settlements on Palestinian territory,” he added.

He
urged the international community to come up with mechanisms aimed at
implementing United Nations Security Council resolutions, which condemn
Israel’s settlements built on occupied Palestinian land.

Erekat
further noted that there are 12 Security Council resolutions in condemnation of
the Israeli regime’s settlement expansion activities and its expropriation of
Palestinian territories.

The
Palestinian leadership has submitted three formal referrals to the ICC,
seated in The Hague in the Netherlands, to investigate Israeli crimes,
and there are two cases before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against
Israel, the senior Palestinian official pointed out.

“There
are four Security Council resolutions, demanding international protection for
our people… There are also issues before the Human Rights Council that the
international community should implement,” Erekat highlighted.

Netanyahu
said on Monday that construction of some 840 new settlement units would begin
in Ariel settlement in response to an attack that left an Israeli soldier
and a rabbi dead.

Last month, Ir Amim, an Israeli NGO opposing Tel Aviv’s settlement expansion activities, published a new map that illustrated an “accelerated, intensifying chain of new facts on the ground in the most historically contested and politically sensitive part of Jerusalem [al-Quds]: the Old City and adjacent ring of Palestinian neighborhoods,” which help reinforcement of settlement plans.

The
NGO pointed to a number of Israeli-sponsored settlement campaigns inside
Palestinian neighborhoods, including “settler initiated evictions of
Palestinians, takeovers of their homes, and the expansion of settler
compounds,” in addition to the use of the so-called “touristic settlement
sites” as “key points” contributing to the campaigns.

Ir
Amim said the supposed tourism and archaeology projects “assume a central role
in Israeli settlement policy.”

About
600,000 Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967
Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East
Jerusalem al-Quds.

The
UN Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in the
occupied territories in several resolutions.

Less than a month before US President Donald Trump took office, the United Nations Security Council in December 2016 adopted Resolution 2334, calling on Israel to “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem” al-Quds.

Palestinians
want the West Bank as part of a future independent
Palestinian state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.

The
last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed in 2014. Among the major
sticking points in those negotiations was Israel’s continued settlement
expansion on Palestinian territories.

]]>http://muslimtimes.co/2019/03/20/icc-urged-to-investigate-israel-settlement-expansion-on-palestinian-land/feed/0Lebanese security forces detain dual national on charge of espionage for Israel’s Mossadhttp://muslimtimes.co/2019/03/20/lebanese-security-forces-detain-dual-national-on-charge-of-espionage-for-israels-mossad/
http://muslimtimes.co/2019/03/20/lebanese-security-forces-detain-dual-national-on-charge-of-espionage-for-israels-mossad/#respondWed, 20 Mar 2019 11:13:56 +0000http://muslimtimes.co/?p=116094Muslim Times(Web Desk) – Lebanese intelligence forces have arrested a Lebanese-Canadian man on charges of spying for Israel’s Mossad spy agency and collaboration with the regime’s authorities through gathering intelligence about the Hezbollah resistance movement and missing Israeli pilot Ron Arad. The General Security Directorate announced in a statement on Tuesday that the suspect, identified only by his ...

The
General Security Directorate announced in a statement on Tuesday that the
suspect, identified only by his initials as F.G., admitted during interrogation
that he was recruited by fugitive Lebanese spy N.G. in 2013. N.G. currently
chairs a division in the 504 Unit of the Israeli intelligence service.

F.G.
also confessed that he had been assigned to recruit Lebanese people to
infiltrate Hezbollah’s support zone and collect security information for
Israel, including hints about the missing pilot.

The
41-year-old suspect was referred to related judiciary officials, and efforts
are underway to arrest those who worked with him.

The
Lebanese Army’s intelligence branch stated on November 12 last year that
it had arrested a man suspected of spying for Mossad as he was attempting to
cross the southern border into occupied Palestinian territories.

The
army said the man, identified as Mohammad Hussein Fakih, was captured in the
village of Meiss Ej Jabal, situated some 78 kilometers (49 miles)
south of the capital Beirut.

On
September 25 last year, Lebanon’s Military Tribunal sentenced three
Lebanese nationals to three years in prison with hard labor on charges of
espionage on Hezbollah for Mossad.

On
October 16, 1986, Arad and his co-pilot, Yishai Aviram, ejected themselves from
their Phantom jet while conducting strikes on the positions of Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO) around the southern Lebanese city of Sidon.

The
tribunal, chaired by Brigadier General Hussein Abdallah, issued the verdicts
against Hasan Salemeh, Karam Idris and Kamal Hasan after they were found guilty
of providing the Israeli regime with intelligence about Hezbollah’s military
arsenal and operations, and with photos of several strategic locations in
Lebanon.

The
court also stripped them of their rights as Lebanese citizens.

The
three had been arrested in October 2017 and charged with communicating
information to Israel. They reportedly possessed Israeli wireless communication
devices at the time of their arrest.

Two
other defendants, identified as Lebanese nationals H.K. and N.Sh., were
separately questioned after they allegedly contacted Israelis through Facebook.

]]>http://muslimtimes.co/2019/03/20/lebanese-security-forces-detain-dual-national-on-charge-of-espionage-for-israels-mossad/feed/0Iraqi court sentences Belgian man to death for Daesh membershiphttp://muslimtimes.co/2019/03/19/iraqi-court-sentences-belgian-man-to-death-for-daesh-membership/
http://muslimtimes.co/2019/03/19/iraqi-court-sentences-belgian-man-to-death-for-daesh-membership/#respondTue, 19 Mar 2019 05:59:23 +0000http://muslimtimes.co/?p=115824 Muslim Times(Web Desk) – A court in Iraq has sentenced a Belgian national to death by hanging over his membership in the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group and involvement in criminal acts in the war-ravaged Arab country. The country’s Central Criminal Court issued the verdict against the 23-year-old, identified as Bilal al-Marchohi, on Monday. Judge Jumaa Saidi ...

]]> Muslim
Times(Web Desk) – A court in Iraq has sentenced a Belgian national to death by
hanging over his membership in the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group and
involvement in criminal acts in the war-ravaged Arab country.

The
country’s Central Criminal Court issued the verdict against the 23-year-old,
identified as Bilal al-Marchohi, on Monday.

Judge
Jumaa Saidi read out portions of Marchohi’s signed confession during an hour of
proceedings, and showed a video and photographs that he said proved the Belgian
man’s membership in Daesh.

A
translator was appointed by the judge for Marchohi, who spoke in English
throughout the trial.

Marchohi
was also given a court appointed lawyer, with whom he had no contact at all
during the hearing.

Belgian
consular representatives also attended the proceedings.

Images
from a phone found in Marchohi’s possession at the time of arrest showed him
carrying a gun and making a hand gesture affiliated with Daesh.

Marchohi
repeatedly denied the charges brought against him throughout the trial,
including that he was a member of Daesh terrorist group in Iraq at any time.

“I
shouldn’t be prosecuted in Iraq. I should be prosecuted in Belgium, I am a
Belgian citizen,” he said.

Marchohi
is the second Belgian national to have been held in Iraq and sentenced to death
for a role in Daesh.

Tarek
Jadaoun, 30, better known by the nom de guerre Abu Hamza al-Beljiki, was
sentenced to death in May 2018.

Jadaoun
featured prominently in Daesh’s propaganda video clips, which showed the
high-ranking Daesh terrorist threatening attacks on European soil.

Hundreds
of European nationals traveled to the Middle East to join Daesh after the
terror group captured large swathes of territory in Iraq and neighboring Syria
in mid-2014.

Iraq
has been trying hundreds of suspected Daesh members, many of whom were detained
as the outfit’s strongholds crumbled throughout Iraq. This includes hundreds of
foreigners.

Former
Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi declared the end of military operations
against Daesh in the Arab country on December 9, 2017.

On
July 10 that year, he had formally declared victory over Daesh in Mosul, which
served as the terrorists’ main urban stronghold in Iraq.

In
the run-up to Mosul’s liberation, Iraqi army soldiers and volunteer Hashd
al-Sha’abi fighters had made sweeping gains against Daesh.

Iraqi
forces took control of eastern Mosul in January 2017 after 100 days of
fighting, and launched the battle in the west on February 19 last year.

]]>http://muslimtimes.co/2019/03/19/iraqi-court-sentences-belgian-man-to-death-for-daesh-membership/feed/0Defense minister: Foreign military presence in Syria amounts to ‘occupation’http://muslimtimes.co/2019/03/19/defense-minister-foreign-military-presence-in-syria-amounts-to-occupation/
http://muslimtimes.co/2019/03/19/defense-minister-foreign-military-presence-in-syria-amounts-to-occupation/#respondTue, 19 Mar 2019 05:58:21 +0000http://muslimtimes.co/?p=115819Muslim Times(Web Desk) – The Syrian Ministry of Defense has denounced as an “act of occupation” the presence of foreign forces in the country without authorization from the government in Damascus, stressing that Syria reserves the right to defend its security and sovereignty against any act of aggression. Speaking at a press conference in the ...

]]>Muslim Times(Web Desk) – The
Syrian Ministry of Defense has denounced as an “act of occupation” the presence
of foreign forces in the country without authorization from the government in
Damascus, stressing that Syria reserves the right to defend its security and sovereignty
against any act of aggression.

Speaking
at a press conference in the Syrian capital of Damascus on Monday, Syrian
Defense Minister General Ali Abdullah Ayyoub said the unauthorized military
presence of any country in Syria was regarded as “illegal” and that the Syrian
armed forces would not relent in their determination to defend the country’s
territorial integrity.

General
Ayyoub also added that areas held by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces
(SDF) would be brought back under government control through military force or
some kind of “reconciliation agreements.”

“The
only card remaining in the hands of the Americans and their allies is the SDF,
and it will be dealt with through the two methods used by the Syrian state:
national reconciliation or the liberation of the areas that they control
through force,” the Syrian defense minister said.

“The
Americans must leave and will leave,” he added.

The
US has long been providing the SDF — a predominantly Kurdish alliance of
militants — with arms, calling it a key partner in the purported fight against
the Daesh Takfiri terrorists.

The
Daesh terror group lost its territorial control in Syria in late 2017 thanks to
national army operations backed by Iran and Russia.

Despite
the terror group’s collapse, the US and a coalition of allies, which invaded
Syria in 2014 under the pretext of fighting Daesh, have refused to end their
aerial operations in defiance of the Damascus government.

The
US has deployed some 2,000 troops to Syria and runs military bases there.

Many reports have emerged over the past months, indicating that Washington lets the terrorists enjoy freedom of movement near its military base, and even trains them there.

In
December last year, US President Donald Trump unexpectedly announced that the
US would be pulling all its 2,000 forces out of Syria. He also claimed victory
over Daesh in the country.

]]> Muslim
Times(Web Desk) – Syria says its constitution is a “purely sovereign affair”
and will allow no foreign interference in that area.

Syrian
Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Walid al-Muallem stressed the matter
in a meeting with United Nations (UN) Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen in
the capital, Damascus, on Sunday.

“The
constitution and all matters related to it are a sovereign issue that should be
decided by Syrians themselves without any foreign interference,” Muallem said,
as quoted by Syria’s official news agency SANA.

Writing
a new constitution for a post-war Syria is part of a potential political
solution to end the eight-year crisis in the Arab country. To that end, an
agreement was made in the Russian town of Sochi last year for a UN-backed
Constitutional Committee to be formed composed of 50 members from the incumbent
Damascus government, 50 opposition members, and another 50 independent
figures chosen by the world body.

Muallem
expressed Syria’s readiness to cooperate with Pedersen, a Norwegian diplomat who
took over from Staffan de Mistura in January, to facilitate inter-Syrian dialog
to reach a political solution aimed at serving the Syrians’ interests
and preserving the Arab country’s “sovereignty, independence and unity.”

He
also said any solution had to help eradicate terrorism and terminate the
illegal presence of foreign troops in Syria.

Pedersen,
on his second visit to Damascus since he took up the post, affirmed that he
would not spare any effort to reach a political solution in accordance with the
principles laid out in the UN Charter and the relevant UN Security Council
resolutions.

Last
month, Pedersen said in Geneva that he saw a constitutional committee as “the
potential door-opener for the political process.”

The
UN envoy also stressed the full commitment of the UN to the sovereignty,
independence, and territorial integrity of the Arab country.

]]> Muslim Times(Web Desk) – Nearly a dozen civilians have lost their lives when
the US-led coalition purportedly fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist
group conducted a series of airstrikes in Syria’s embattled eastern
province of Dayr al-Zawr.

Civil sources, requesting not to be named, told Syria’s official news agency SANA on Sunday that US-led warplanes bombarded a refugee camp on the outskirts of the besieged village of Baghouz near the Iraqi border, killing at least ten people who had fled the last vestiges of Daesh’s territorial rule in eastern Syria.

The sources
added that there are women and children among the fatalities, stressing that
intense US-led aerial assaults have transformed Baghouz into a “ghost city.”

The
development came only a day after US-led warplanes carried out a string of
airstrikes against the same Syrian region, claiming the lives of many civilians
and injuring several others.

The US-led
coalition has been conducting airstrikes and operations against what are said
to be Daesh targets inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization
from the Damascus government or a United Nations mandate.

The military
alliance has repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians. It has
also been largely incapable of achieving its declared goal of
destroying Daesh.

On February
12, the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, in two
separate letters addressed to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the
former rotating president of the Security Council, Anatolio Ndong Mba,
denounced the coalition strikes conducted against Baghouz a day earlier, saying
the US-led warplanes had pounded a refugee camp.

Local
sources told the state-run Ikhbariyah Syria television news network that
16 civilians, including seven children, were killed as a result
of the raid.

“This new
crime is in line with the series of war crimes and crimes against humanity,
which the US-led coalition has perpetrated against Syrian people, its continued
support for terrorism, and its use of terrorists and separatist militia forces
to advance its fiendish plots aimed at Syria’s sovereignty, unity and
territorial integrity,” said the letters.

The ministry
also called on the UN Security Council to stand up against such attacks and
crimes.

It also
demanded that the UN body assume its responsibilities regarding the
establishment of international peace and security, conduct an international
probe into these criminal acts, condemn them, and put an immediate halt to such
air raids as well as the “aggressive” presence of American and other foreign
military forces in Syria.

]]>http://muslimtimes.co/2019/03/18/us-led-airstrikes-claim-10-more-civilian-lives-in-syrias-dayr-al-zawr/feed/0US stance against Hashd Sha’abi forces violates Iraqi sovereignty: Lawmakerhttp://muslimtimes.co/2019/03/18/us-stance-against-hashd-shaabi-forces-violates-iraqi-sovereignty-lawmaker/
http://muslimtimes.co/2019/03/18/us-stance-against-hashd-shaabi-forces-violates-iraqi-sovereignty-lawmaker/#respondMon, 18 Mar 2019 12:06:38 +0000http://muslimtimes.co/?p=115648 Muslim Times(Web Desk) – An Iraqi legislator has condemned recent remarks by US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino against pro-government Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), describing them as “prejudicial” and “in violation of the sovereignty of Iraq.” Abbas al-Ismaili, a member of the Security and Defense Committee in the Iraqi Parliament, said the voluntary forces – better known ...

]]> Muslim
Times(Web Desk) – An Iraqi legislator has condemned recent remarks by US State
Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino against pro-government Popular
Mobilization Units (PMU), describing them as “prejudicial” and “in violation of
the sovereignty of Iraq.”

Abbas
al-Ismaili, a member of the Security and Defense Committee in
the Iraqi Parliament, said the voluntary forces – better known by the
Arabic name Hashd al-Sha’abi – are an important part of the country’s security
system that defeated terrorism and achieved victory over the Takfiri Daesh
terrorist group.

Ismaili
further noted that “any attack on Hashd Sha’abi forces amounts to violation of
the sovereignty of Iraq, and a flagrant interference in the security and
internal affairs of the country.”

“Washington
is trying to dissolve the PMU by means of blacklisting some of its factions.
Such measures have failed since Hashd al-Sha’abi forces do not care about these
pressures at all, and will not allow the United States to be a guarantor of the
country,” the lawmaker pointed out.

Ismaili
then called on the Baghdad government and the Iraqi Foreign Ministry to summon
US Ambassador to Iraq, Matthew Tueller, and hand him a note of protest for his
country’s violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.

“Palladino’s
description of Popular Mobilization Units as sectarian armed forces is
unacceptable and should not be tolerated,” Ismaili highlighted.

Ali
al-Husseini, a spokesman for the Popular Mobilization Units, also said the
Iraqi government is obliged to respond to Palladino’s comments, and take
deterrent measures to stop US rant about Hashd al-Sha’abi, and put an end to
President Donald Trump’s intervention in the security and political affairs of
Iraq.

Mahmoud
Rubai’i, a spokesperson for Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq group – a main
component of the PMU, also said that the results of last parliamentary
elections proved US failure in Iraq.

“This
is a graver failure of US politics than its military failure,”
Rubai’i said.

He
stressed that Washington’s reports would not distract Hashd al-Sha’abi from its
goals.

Hashd
al-Sha’abi fighters played a major role in the liberation of Daesh-held
areas to the south, northeast and north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, ever
since the terrorists launched an offensive in the country in June 2014.

Iraq
has repeatedly condemned allegations of sectarian nature against the voluntary
force.

The
Iraqi parliament on November 26, 2016 approved a law giving full legal status
to Hashd al-Sha’abi fighters.

It
recognized the PMU as part of the national armed forces, placed the volunteer
fighters under the command of the prime minister, and granted them the right to
receive salaries and pensions like the regular army and police forces.

Former
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared the end of military operations
against the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the Arab country on December 9,
2017.

On
July 10 that year, he had formally declared victory over Daesh in Mosul, which
served as the terrorists’ main urban stronghold in Iraq.

In
the run-up to Mosul’s liberation, Iraqi army soldiers and volunteer Hashd
al-Sha’abi fighters had made sweeping gains against Daesh.

Iraqi
forces took control of eastern Mosul in January 2017 after 100 days of
fighting, and launched the battle in the west on February 19 last year.

Daesh
began a terror campaign in Iraq in 2014, overrunning vast swathes in lightning
attacks.

]]>http://muslimtimes.co/2019/03/18/us-stance-against-hashd-shaabi-forces-violates-iraqi-sovereignty-lawmaker/feed/0MBS hit team to silence dissenters, Saudi Rapid Intervention Group. exposedhttp://muslimtimes.co/2019/03/18/mbs-hit-team-to-silence-dissenters-saudi-rapid-intervention-group-exposed/
http://muslimtimes.co/2019/03/18/mbs-hit-team-to-silence-dissenters-saudi-rapid-intervention-group-exposed/#respondMon, 18 Mar 2019 11:59:50 +0000http://muslimtimes.co/?p=115652 Muslim Times(Web Desk) – Called the “Saudi Rapid Intervention Group” by American spies, the campaign to silence dissidents was authorized by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to deal with cases such as that of Jamal Khashoggi. Involved in the death of the dissident journalist, the group engages in surveillance, kidnapping, detention and torture of Saudi ...

]]> Muslim
Times(Web Desk) – Called the “Saudi Rapid Intervention Group” by American
spies, the campaign to silence dissidents was authorized by Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman to deal with cases such as that of Jamal Khashoggi.

Involved in the death of the dissident journalist, the group engages in surveillance, kidnapping, detention and torture of Saudi citizens, American officials, who have read classified intelligence reports about the campaign, told the New York Times, according to a Sunday report.

The
Washington Post journalist was last seen entering the Saudi mission in Istanbul
on October 2, 2018 before being killed and dismembered and reportedly burned
out at the home of the Saudi consul.

The
team has been engaged in a dozen operations since 2017, including surveillance,
kidnapping, detention and torture.

The
operations also involved “forcibly repatriating Saudis from other Arab
countries and detaining and abusing prisoners in palaces belonging to the crown
prince and his father, King Salman,” read the report.

One
of the victims, a university lecturer in linguistics writing about the dire
situation of women living under the monarchy, tried to commit suicide out of
pressure due to psychological torture.

The
team members asked MBS last June to give them bonuses on the occasion of Eid
al-Fitr, given how “busy” they have been.

The
monarchy “takes any allegations of ill treatment of defendants awaiting trial
or prisoners serving their sentences very seriously,” claimed a spokesman for
the Saudi embassy in Washington.

Publicizing
he group could be part of an attempt to exonerate the country’s de facto ruler
by claiming that the group acted on its own rather than getting a direct order
to assassinated the US-based journalist.

Since
Khashoggi’s death, Saudis are reportedly rounding up dissidents.

“We’ve
never seen it on a scale like this,” said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst
now with the Brookings Institution. “A dissident like Jamal Khashoggi in the
past wouldn’t have been considered worth the effort.”

He
added that the group’s sloppiness indicates it was used to acting freely inside
Saudi Arabia under authorization of bin Salman and supervision of Saud
al-Qahtani and his deputy, Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb.

MBS
has not been held accountable for the assassination and dismemberment of
Khashoggi with a bone saw and enjoys the backing of US President Donald Trump.